The Dark Fortress
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: They had just finished up a small mission in a dangerous pocket dimension known as the Dark Fortress. It was a sort of prison, almost like the Null Void, but it was a world of nearly pure blackness and only the worst of the villains were imprisoned there.


**A/N: When this idea hit me, it hit me hard and fast. I mean, it was like being slapped in the face with a dead fish. And I edited it three times, proofread it three times, and worked until one in the morning on it. So this took up three hours of my writing time that could've been used elsewhere, so I'm really, really hoping you enjoy this!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Ben 10. The rightful owner is Man of Action.**

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**The Dark Fortress**

They had just finished up a small mission in a dangerous pocket dimension known as the Dark Fortress. It was a sort of prison, almost like the Null Void, but it was a world of nearly pure blackness and only the worst of the villains were imprisoned there. This one, in comparison to the Null Void, had a single guard, for there was only one way in and one way out. This gateway that the sole guard protected was hexed with ways of keeping it's prisoners in without even needing a guard. But at least one was better than none.

"Thank you for taking care of our problem," murmured the elderly gatekeeper whose flaming orange eyes glistened as he bowed to the trio of heroes. "I am quite pleased to see that Sanarhina has been put down to never rise up in this dimension again. He would have killed us all had you not come to save this place." The long, pale violet tentacles that dripped around his face showed his age as did the wrinkles upon his light lavender skin and the shadows that haunted his facial features.

"No problem," said Ben with his usual cocky grin. He stretched his arms to the sky of eternal night that covered the atmosphere, signaling a job well done. A few of his longer brown locks drifted down into his bright jade eyes, but he didn't mind too much. "Now we'll just get going back home. I have a peanut butter and ham smoothie that's calling my name."

Gwen and Kevin, nearly in-sync with rolling their eyes, watched as Ben pushed his way out of the dimension's transparent golden doorway that led back to Earth where the three teens were headed, each of them needing to get home for the night. Ben's green soccer jacket disappeared to the other side of it, his hair suddenly glowing with a somewhat blondish hint to it as the other two stared at him from within the depths of the Dark Fortress.

"You guys look yellow," snickered Ben as he turned to watch his cousin come through the small entrance next. The hues of gold flashed away from her skin with a pale shine as soon as she appeared on the same side as him, her ballet flat touching the soft dirt that dusted up as soon as she stepped into it.

"Very funny," snorted Kevin, beginning to go back to the realm he belon- His face hit the barrier like it was a brick wall instead of an open doorway. The dark teen had to take a quick step back and stare at it for a long moment. "Alright, which one of you Tennysons is tryin' to mess with me?" His gleaming obsidian orbs flickered between them, glowing with a slight touch of playfulness hanging in them like stars hung in the night sky by invisible strings.

Ben grinned. "Not me," he said with a soft snicker, staring at Kevin who was folding his arms across his chest. "Gwen went through last. Blame her, not me." The wielder of the Ultimatrix's gaze flitted to his redhead cousin as she shook her head.

"I didn't do anything," said the girl bluntly, shaking her head in slight confusion. She almost wanted to act defensive against the accusations that had been placed on the table, but she had done nothing wrong and therefore didn't need to defend herself. She eyed the barrier, still blazing a regular shade of gold. It hadn't changed in the slightest since she had stepped through it back onto her home planet.

Kevin stared at the swirling portal-like doorway that was glazed over in tints of the honey color. He stepped forward again, smacking into it once more as if the thing was solid instead of insubstantial. He pulled away automatically, staring at it long and hard again with a questioning gaze. "Why can't I get through?" he asked, watching the shades of yellow drift in it like a dye of the sun's shining rays swirling in water. "What's going on?"

At this point, Ben had picked up on the fact that something had to be wrong. His brown brows knit together tightly. "No idea," he said, words terse.

Kevin, getting impatient, took his hand to the wall beside it. He closed his eyes and let the ancient, gravel-colored stone cover his physique. His chiseled features always stood out more when he was covered in the thicker and darker armor. The ebony-haired teen wasted no time in smashing a mace-shaped fist into the wall of gold, only making a crunch sound as the armor was annihilated at the touch. All of the stone fell off of his body within seconds. "What the..." Kevin let his words hang in the air as he watched Gwen and Ben stare at him with their identical pairs of horrified green eyes. "Can someone get me outta here?"

"It's not working?" asked Ben, trying to clarify the situation as his cousin put a hand to her forehead, clearly mulling it all over.

"No, Ben, I'm just walkin' into it 'cause I feel like it," remarked Kevin in a clearly snarky tone. This time, he bent down and touched the rock that lay at his feet, letting the cold stone of deep violet touch his skin, covering it in a heavy layer of rock. He figured that a change of matter could possibly effect the outcome of his blow. This time, he morphed his hand into a sharper weapon, a sword, and tried to rip at the barrier that was holding him as a prisoner in the Dark Fortress. Once more, the first contact he made caused the armor to fall off his skin like rain pouring down from a cloud. The pieces of rock clattered to the ground around him, instantly turned to pebbles.

"Rindahyay," called Gwen to the guard of the dimensional stronghold, "what's going on?" The redhead's emerald eyes were fixed upon her boyfriend who was clearly growing irritated with not being able to get out. The girl stepped forward and pressed her hand to the barri- It was solid beneath her fingertips.

The elderly guard looked over his shoulder at the three before fully turning to watch them, his flame-colored eyes dancing with the answer to her question. "This is the Dark Fortress," he stated. It was a fact that the three teens already knew. "The barrier is designed to let beings with good hearts in and out only once and to never release those with darkness in them." The lavender-skinned alien's gaze skimmed over Kevin's body, analyzing the minutest details before swinging his eyes back to the two Tennysons. It was then that he stated the answer that the redhead had wanted. "He has darkness within him. He isn't permitted to leave."

"That's crazy!" Ben was the first to burst out after a brief silence. "He's about as dark as Gwen is for crying out loud!" The jade-eyed teenager knew that his best friend and his cousin had practically become the same person. It was strange that Gwen had gotten out, but her boyfriend hadn't. Trying to prove Rindahyay wrong, the brunette boy threw one hand in the air as if that made a statement in itself. It didn't. "Gwen got out. Just let Kevin out."

"There is darkness in him," repeated Rindahyay, the wrinkles in and around his face creasing a bit more. "The shield around this place will not let him leave. I have no control over any of it. I am just a watchman here. I call for help from people like you when it is needed. That is all I am here to do."

Kevin banged a fist against it; his patience had run out fast. He slugged the wall, putting all the force and strength he could muster into the one punch. All he found in the impact was raw knuckles covered in fresh blood.

"Kevin," breathed Gwen, seeing her beloved boyfriend in pain. The girl pushed a little harder on the barrier, finding it closed off to her just as it was to him. She just wanted to take care of him. She just wanted him to be with her and her cousin once more. "Are you okay?" she asked, seeing the scarlet fluid running across his pale, nearly white skin.

With a wince, Kevin replied, "I'll live." He wiped away the worst of the blood with the opposite hand and got off the final remnants with his ash-colored shirt. "But it hurts like you wouldn't believe." His obsidian orbs vanished momentarily behind his eyelids as he mustered the blistering pain that was attacking his flesh, drawing out the blood even further.

"Don't hit it again," suggested Ben, moving closer to the golden portal, but still staying a good foot or two behind his cousin.

"Thanks for the advice, Einstein." Kevin's retort gave away his clear anxiety on the situation. He couldn't be a prisoner again. He had had his taste of freedom, but now he wanted his whole life to be like that little taste. He wanted to be able to see the sunlight and to taste the fresh air. Kevin wanted to know beauty instead of darkness. He had grown up in darkness and now he was being forced back into a fortress of the stuff.

"Let him out!" demanded Gwen, pounding a gentle fist into the wall of swirling yellow as her gaze remained intent on the guard. "He's changed!"

Rindahyay's lips let a small, sad smile perch upon them like a broken bird ready to die. Then his ember-colored eyes shut for a moment before reopening to reveal the same shade of brightness that the doorway possessed. "I can tell you exactly why the barrier will not release him back into his original realm," said the watchman, his purplish features giving off a faint glow.

Gwen's face was pursed with a silent melancholy expression. She didn't want to have to deal with this. She wanted to see Kevin on this side of the fortress, not trapped within it. She took her hand from the golden gateway and listened to what Rindahyay had to say.

"He is tortured," began the old reader, able to see the ex-con's darkest sins as if they were written in crimson blood across his forehead. "He has thoughts of fighting without reason. He has stolen. He has injured the innocent." The guard shuddered quietly for a moment. "He has seen black days. He has been the attacker more times than he has been the victim."

"He's changed," pleaded Gwen, eyes desperately begging for mercy on Kevin's behalf. She couldn't stand to see him stand within the confines of a prison again. She didn't want to watch him suffer more years behind bars. Hadn't losing his childhood been enough?

"He was saving the world," defended Ben, his eyes locked onto the watchman angrily. "He may be violent, but he was only doing it out of the greater good."

Neither of the Tennysons' voices made the ancient reader stop his speaking. "He is plagued with desires that no pure man should have. He has a dangerous mind. A criminal one. He knows how to do things that could possibly be lethal. Hatred hangs heavily on him." Another shudder passed through him as he slowly continued. "And his soul is stained with murder."

At hearing this last one, part of Kevin broke. He couldn't tell what had shattered, the last of his spirit or the final pieces of his heart. He had known so much of this; no one had ever had to tell him. Parts of what Rindahyay had said were things he had been keeping from his teammates. He knew that they scarcely trusted him when it came to his shady and corrupt behavior, but he hadn't wanted them to ever find out about the death that followed him everywhere like a ghost.

Gwen was the first to speak after her boyfriend had fallen to the stone pathway covered in filth that the Osmosian now knelt in. His hands remained at his sides as she watched his face turn from rage to misery in a matter of seconds. "K-Kevin?"

Ben picked it up before his cousin did. He hardly ever had to think twice on this subject. He knew Kevin had violent tendencies, but he could only think of one that could ever drive him to be an all-out murderer. "Ragnarok."

Kevin just nodded solemnly, a darkness now hanging over his pathetic features. He was no longer a pillar of strength for the younger teens. He was a broken child like he had been when they first met him. They saw the pained desperation and the anger and the longing. They saw an aching child who had just lost the final bits of hope that he had once clung onto with all his might just to keep from falling to the blackness again. But he had fallen, and this time, there was no way out.

"Kevin..." A single tear streaked down Gwen's face, sparkling like a star in the night sky as it streamed down her porcelain cheek. The sky that Kevin was sheltered beneath in the Dark Fortress possessed no stars. "Why didn't you tell us?" she asked, feeling her voice cracking. She didn't want to shatter. She didn't want to show weakness. Gwen had to be strong.

A twisted, tortured, pained smirk touched his lips like the kiss of death. "Because I always knew it would end like this." He bent forward, pressing his thickly calloused hands into the gravelly dust, the shards of rock puncturing his skin. "I was never meant to find a happily ever after." He shook his head, looking up at the other two, feeling pathetic and pitiful. "I just didn't think that Ragnarok would be my downfall. He deserved to die the way that I'm going to. Cold and alone."

"Just let him out!" demanded Ben, already knowing that if Kevin's fist had been bloodied by a simple punch without armor then there was no way any of his transformations would do the Osmosian any good. "He's no threat!"

"The barrier makes the decisions," breathed Rindahyay, his glassy gold orbs closing once again before blinking open to reveal the circles of orange once more that surrounded his pupils in a moat of lava. "I cannot change the choice it has made about your friend."

Gwen's tears continued to fall as soon as the first one had dropped off of her face altogether. "Kevin, come here," she murmured, fingers still pressed to the barrier as more diamonds of blue slid down her flawless skin. "Please, Kevin. Please come here."

His blackened orbs of obsidian found her fragile body as if leaned against the glimmering yellow barrier. "Gwen, just go. I- I don't want you to-" He didn't want to say anymore. Kevin's dark gaze strayed from the redhead to her brunette cousin whose jade eyes still held a bit of a fighting spirit. "Ben, get her out of here."

It took a few seconds for the raven-haired teen's words to register in the mind of the Ultimatrix wielder, but Ben soon understood. He took his cousin's hands away from the honey-colored portal, pulling her back towards him. "Come on, Gwen," he murmured to her, trying not to break down in front of his best friend and his favorite cousin. He didn't want to crack like this. "Let's go."

Eyes widening, Gwen tried to thrash out of Ben's grip, her flaming red hair gently hitting his face as she struggled. "No!" she cried out, tiny sapphires still dripping down her face, being tugged along by her grief. "No, Ben! We have to help him!" Her voice was so distraught that it almost made Ben stop, but the heartbroken look in his best friend's eyes made him keep pulling her along.

Gwen kept kicking and screaming, not afraid to hurt her cousin. Her only true fear was to lose the love of her life. She couldn't watch him go, not like this. She wanted to see the end of her life with him by her side. She never wanted to go a day without him. "Kevin!" she shrieked, praying for some miracle. She couldn't leave him to die. She just couldn't. "KEVIN!"

His shadowed gaze followed her auburn mane as her cousin carried her into the darkness. He could still hear her screams, those tortured cries and pained wails, minutes after she had vanished into the all-consuming darkness that was his new home. The black shadows would now become his new best friend.

Kevin drank in a deep breath of the icy, stale air. Then he rose to his feet, still nursing his bloody knuckles into his ebony shirt. The dark teen looked to the guard who watched the Osmosian with patient eyes. "Thanks for nothin'," said Kevin, spitting on the ground at Rindahyay's feet before clenching his fists and heading deeper into the Dark Fortress to forge a new name for himself. He had to survive somehow. He still wanted at least one more breath of fresh air before he was finally laid to rest. He wasn't ready to let death take him yet.

Just like he had in New York and in the Null Void, Kevin hitched up his pride and pushed away the ache of misery to move on and live another day. Just like he did everywhere else.

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**A/N: Okay, wow that was long. Reviews are much appreciated!**

**~Sky**


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